Apple to cease European Mac Pro sales for regulatory reasons

Well, this is either incredibly sad or utterly hilarious. Apple will stop selling the Mac Pro in Europe on 1 March… Because it doesn’t comply with “new” European regulations that will come into effect that day. I say “new” between quotation marks because said regulation was announced four years ago. The regulation deals with increased protection requirements concerning electrical ports and fan guards. “The new requirements necessitate fan guards and some increased protection on the ports on the electrical system,” explained Apple, “Because Mac Pro is not compliant with the regulations, we do want to meet that regulation and therefore not offer Mac Pro beyond 1 March.” So, a standards body is faster at updating its standards than Apple is at updating its Mac Pro. It illustrates just how much Apple cares about pro users. The last significant update to the Mac Pro occurred in 2010, but Tim Cook did promise an update to the product later in 2013.

56 Comments

In a world where most of Apple’s profit comes from non-OSX gear, maybe the best solution to meet the needs of these (very) few users who really require a workstation-class OSX computer is a collaboration with somebody else… Imagine HP offering OSX as an install option on the high-end Z-series workstations (not the smaller ones, too much overlap with the iMac’s capabilities there), with Apple’s blessing.

Wow Thom. Wearing your anti-Apple bias pretty clearly here aren’t you? I mean of course Apple isn’t just being slow to comply here, they don’t want to produce a whole different model for the European market or change their entire design around their regulations (might not make sense economically considering they do such much more sales in the US and Asia). Their, “We’d like to comply,” is basically the nice way of telling the European market to go screw off. Considering the over regulated anti-tech environment their (as well as the mess of all the different nation regulations on top) I can’t say I’m too surprised. This should be a wake up call to the EU, not Apple.

U.S companies seem to think that the world is their backyard and they have the right to dump their unsafe shit that doesn’t pass U.S regulations everywhere else.

It is EU regulations, not US ones in question. Not sure if you miss typed that or not, because we do push other crap like GMO food that is not up to EU safety standards. In the case of these computers though, I think the EU may be over nerfing.

Once you get past the power supply everything is a safe 12 volts. What exactly is the EU trying to protect you from on the ports? What exactly is the nature of the change needed for the ports to meet EU standards?

I had a G5 (so I don’t know how different the airflow is on the intel Mac Pros, but I thought it was similar) and I did not think the fans were a safety issue on that model. By the book you were not supposed to have it powered up with the access panel off and I believe they had a sensor to stop the fans when the inner airflow panel was open.

It makes me wonder what the underside of a EU approved lawnmower looks like if they are putting guards on parts that are already covered by access panels. It seems like the EU would want to protect the people who disregard the manual and try to change blades with it running.

It does go both ways though….

Suzuki recently pulled out of the US auto-market citing that it is to costly to meet us safety/emissions standards as one of the reason for leaving. I was kind of surprised with that, because I really like my Kizashi and though they had something that blended the style and quality of a VW fused with a Honda and then combined it with the all wheel drive of a Subaru.

“At issue are the large fans within the Mac Pro. Since they are unprotected, it would be possible to touch the fan blades,” MacWorld reports Apple as saying.

Is it true you can touch fan blades? That does look like a major oversight. Even if this wasn’t in the standard any quality equipment should come with a fan hidden behind a guard – no excuse for Apple. True, I wouldn’t put my fingers in the fan, but a toddler could very much try it.

“According to Apple, the new requirements necessitate fan guards and some increased protection on the ports on the electrical system.”

Not sure about Apple but some time ago I tried to get Sony to fix an electrical leak from the power supply to the metal casing of the laptop (which was noticeable at 110V~ and rather unpleasant at 240V~). Their response was that this amount of leakage is normal and meets all legal requirements. So, I am not going to complain that EU is making regulations tougher.

Once you get past the power supply everything is a safe 12 volts. What exactly is the EU trying to protect you from on the ports? What exactly is the nature of the change needed for the ports to meet EU standards?

It really is astonishing that there are still people in this world – in the US, no less! – who believe regulation to be a bad thing. It’s as though caution and the idea of learning from one’s mistakes are things to be crushed wherever they’re encountered.

It really is astonishing that there are still people in this world – in the US, no less! – who believe regulation to be a bad thing. It’s as though caution and the idea of learning from one’s mistakes are things to be crushed wherever they’re encountered.

We are utterly doomed as a species.

It really is astonishing that there are still people in this world who believe that government can competently regulate anything other than collection of taxes and blowing shit up with weaponry. Seriously, government bureaucrats in the US issue dozens of regulations a day, and a lot of them are geared at protecting market cronyism (driving up the costs of competitors that that existing players can hold onto markets), bad (or no) science, arbitrary exercises of power, support of secondary markets that the government wants to prop up (green energy), increased taxation, and well-meaning mental retardation.

I’m not saying that ALL regulation is bad. But a lot of it is, and doesn’t serve the public good. And there’s nothing wrong with questioning authority. You have an obligation as a thinking adult not to abdicate all moral authority to the government. They’re flawed human beings, just like the rest of us, and need watchdogs.

There’s some truth in what you say. Many times innovation and the launch of new products to the market are slowed down because of unnecessary regulations. I mean in the EU some things that are not required at all by US and Japan regulations are mandatory.. and the US and Japan regulations are considered to be of a high standard, but hey, more business for European certification authorities!

This is especially bad for small companies which are trying to enter the market; more regulations != better results, but in Europe regulations = good, regardless if they are useless or not. No problem for the big guys, a royal PITA for the small guy who is just trying to make a living with his company, and who has to bear huge costs just to bring a product to the market.

It is sad to see you voted down to -11. I voted you up.

The classic example are cars. In Europe they are over-regulated to the point that you cannot do any meaningful modification to the vehicle, as if the state built the car and gave you it as a gift (yeah.. really?). In the US and in Australia, regulations are very permissive when it comes to tuning and modifications, yet I don’t see cars burning down.

Consider how many people have seriously harmed themselves on computer fans in the past decade. Consider whether the sum total of those people, if greater than nil, wouldn’t also be the sort of people who could accidentally decapitate themselves with a walnut, and possibly have in the intervening years. Now consider the amount of money the EU has spent on paying salaries, expenses, test equipment and long lunches in order to come up with this particular jewel and ones like it.

I’m not aware of any useless restrictions on vehicle modification, it’s a fairly big industry in the UK. Only restriction I can think of are higher premiums from insurance companies who (probably rightly) assume you’re going to drive like an idiot with performance upgrades on a small hatchback.

Sure… One might say that food industry regulations are not required, because if you get sick when eating at a restaurant you can just “vote with your feet”.(You shouldn’t care that you can actually die if poisoned)

The classic example are cars.

Yes, the classic example will be you driving in front of me while I’m on a bicycle and spewing a mixture of exhaust and uncumbusted gasoline, just because you made some modifications. There are requirements for CO2 emissions that you have to pass, and if you don’t pass it with your modifications then tough luck. The environment is not your private property.

Such a shame that people don’t think before voting down.

Yet some people see the ignorance in his post. The regulation is very old now and has a lot of small adjustments for new equipment for safety and efficiency.

Meh, ethnocentric Europeans with their USA hate are easy to get going. No different from the nationalists we have here really. Can’t and won’t see the draw backs to their way of doing things. It’s a tribalism pride thing. Though my original comment was wrong about the ‘why’ of Apple doing this, as I later pointed out, so I understand it getting voted down for that reason, but based on the comments, it’s clear that it wasn’t voted down because of that.

I’ve voted you up on the basis that you made a good point about regulations inhibiting entrepreneurship, so there was something factual in your comment. But, frankly speaking, the rest of it was incorrect, hateful and generally rubbish. Somehow it doesn’t stop you from calling others (Europeans) “nationalists” just because they didn’t like your rant. Go back to AOL or wherever you came from.

The classic example are cars. In Europe they are over-regulated to the point that you cannot do any meaningful modification to the vehicle, as if the state built the car and gave you it as a gift (yeah.. really?)

Admittedly, it was stupid of me to operate the TX without grounding it properly. I was in an apartment at the time with no access to a ground rod, and no proper house grounding. I had run an antenna radial into the apartment which probably induced the current as well. Granted, it was a portable transmitter, so it could operate without a ground if necessary. My current set-up is a lot safer. Thank the Universe I was running QRP at 5 watts instead of a QRO or 100 or I would have needed a run to the hospital.

It was a Yaesu FT817ND transceiver. I was working the 14Mhz Ham Radio band at the time. One of the radials was only a few feet behind me, running basically parallel with the USB/headphone cable combination.

I think its fair to suggest that your operating methods were more of a health hazard than the industrial regulation in that instance.

No argument there. It’s what I had at the time, and years ago. I learned a lot from that experience, despite the training I had already received to pass three separate license tests. RF can be a tricky thing.

This is also why I’m all for a little more safety in consumer equipment. You don’t need a license to own and operate a Mac Pro. Dust is a bigger factor in computers than any transceiver I’ve cracked open. Children are a lot more likely to be around a running tower computer unattended, which is an X factor in a variety of ways. Although in this instance I’m thinking of tiny fingers exploring fan grilles. Yes, probably only a minor cut and a crying fit, but if a little change in the design can make that a little less likely, why not?

This is also why I’m all for a little more safety in consumer equipment […] Although in this instance I’m thinking of tiny fingers exploring fan grilles. Yes, probably only a minor cut and a crying fit, but if a little change in the design can make that a little less likely, why not?

Because those little changes in design cost companies money which costs customers money. And because those little changes cost regulators money which costs taxpayers money. And because getting a minor cut and crying fit after sticking your fingers into a whirring, bleeping slab of machinery is a valuable life lesson that its not worth spending money on eradicating.

Nah, actually Jobs himself said in an interview something along the lines of “enterprise customers don’t know what they want” which translated means “enterprise customers have specific needs that we can’t fill with our current and future crap. ah well, there are still the home dudes that buy it like crazy. screw enterprise”.

So they first slashed their server line and now the Mac Pro line. Not a big deal IMO.

Oh you silly luddites, haven’t you heard? Everything’s “Post-PC” now. Whatever you need to do can be done faster and better on an iPhone and iPad combo. If you’re still thinking of desktop PCs then you’re stuck in the 90s.

You know what I think when there’s serious work to be done? “There’s an app for that!”

It’s highly debatable. I can’t work on tablets [and – god forbid – on not-so-smart-phones]. These are just toys, they never made my job done. They lack almost everything, starting from keyboard and ending on processing power. It’s not about being luddite, it’s rather about being serious Joe, who needs to do his job. Period. Entertainment in free time? cool. Bring me more tablets.

I won’t even talk about security and privacy issuess. More apps – less transparency. That’s what I observe.

Ahaha, this must be terrible for Apple fanbois in Europe. It forces them into making a very difficult choice: how can they engage lazy knee-jerk US-bashing/pro-EU chest-thumping, AND still remain loyal to their beloved Apple? Decisions, decisions!

Apple is dominated by a culture of aesthetic-driven engineering. Much of it is well thought out and well-reasoned, but I’m guessing in this case that the company tried to negotiate an exemption from the regulation while one of the goateed beret-wearing designer types tried to come up with an aesthetically pleasing design and failed. I think Apple would rather pull a (niche) product from the market than introduce a design that offends its sensibilities. And make no mistake, this is a niche product for them. If this had been the iPhone, Apple would have moved heaven and earth to get a fix within weeks.